Steidl leads Ridgefield boys to lopsided victory

Updated 11:30 pm, Thursday, January 17, 2013

RIDGEFIELD -- The Ridgefield boys basketball team had almost a week to stew over a tough loss to Norwalk -- and the Tigers came out and made Masuk pay.

The Tigers got 17 points from Kurt Steidl, had 11 different players score and stymied the Panthers with their defense in an 83-39 victory Thursday night in a non-conference matchup in Ridgefield.

Steidl left the Norwalk game in the fourth quarter with a lower back injury but looked no worse for wear in this one. He had 15 of his points at the break, nine coming in the first quarter when Ridgefield opened up a 24-8 lead.

The time off did Steidl good and also provided time for the Tigers to think about the setback to Norwalk, six days to be exact, and they came out and put plenty of pressure on the Panthers.

"We worked really hard all week in practice and after a loss you always want to work hard," Steidl said. "After that much time after a loss we were excited to get back on the court."

That excitement was evident in the Tigers' intensity, especially on the defensive end, which led to a big early lead. Masuk closed to 5-4 about two minutes into the game before Ridgefield blew things open with a 15-0 run.

The Tigers never looked back. Patrick Racy started the spurt with a three-point play and after a bucket by junior guard Charles Irwin the burst was over and essentially so was the game as Ridgefield led 20-4.

Ten players scored in the first half for Ridgefield, led by Steidl, who threw down a dunk, hit jumpers and was able to find room in the paint as well.

"I felt fine, no problems out there at all," Steidl said. "We had a lot of guys contribute tonight and it was a good game heading into the Bassick game tomorrow."

Steidl led the way, but this was far from a one-man show. The Tigers got 11 points from Patrick Racy, 10 from Daniel Greenberg and were tough on the defensive end as well. Masuk had trouble from the tip with Ridgefield's 1-3-1 half-court trap and the Panthers either missed threes or turned the ball over on seemingly every possession.

"We were hesitant at times against their defense and when we did attack and get some looks we just didn't convert," Masuk coach John DeGennaro said. "Early on we knew we were going to have to make some shots and we didn't and it just sort of built up from there."

Ridgefield (7-2) led 48-19 at the half and was never threatened over the final two quarters. In fact there wasn't a drop off when Ridgefield coach Carl Charles went to his bench, which he did early and often, substituting three, four and even five players at a time.

"We had really good energy tonight," Charles said. "Everyone who got into the game played hard and contributed. We said we are going to play two groups and we are going to be committed to that. Kurt and some other guys can gets some rest and it helps overall as a team because we don't want to finish the season tired, we want to finish the season strong."

While Charles liked the energy, like most coaches would he did find an area that he'd like to see his Tigers work on, especially with some FCIAC battles with the likes of Bassick, Trinity Catholic and Westhill looming.

"If there is one thing to pick on tonight it is the careless passes when we aren't being pressed," Charles said. "When you are in championship situations and championship games you can't do that. But with that said I loved their energy and I loved the way they played defense and how it led into the transition game. I thought we finished a lot better and I saw a lot of unselfish play."

Dom Migliaro and Dan Cahill both scored 13 points for Masuk (3-7) which has lost three straight but showed DeGennaro some positives in defeat.

"I thought when we played half court defense, we played some of our best man-to-man," DeGennaro said.